New Union
The New Union is a militant organization that emerged from the chaos of Operation Dethrone and the resulting breakdown of the chain of command of remaining Universal Union forces on Earth. Commanded by 08292 and steadily growing in strength, they intend to restore order to the planet by any means necessary. The New Union was generally willing to overlook actions of former resistance members, and as such some former resistance members joined in the hopes of helping to rebuild the world they used to know, though they were not always ecstatic about their new associates. Their initial intent was essentially to reform some semblance of order and figure out what had happened at the tail end of Operation Dethrone, as well as rejoin with the greater Universal Union. However, the goal of rejoining the Universal Union quickly fell by the wayside as the New Union diverged and began forging a new path for itself. Over time, the New Union expanded from being solely a military organization into a quasi-governmental organization. It held a large amount of territory in Eurasia before being forced overseas by Universal Union activities. In North America, the New Union came to dominate much of the former United States east of the Mississippi. However, following the Second Schism and the loss of City 33, the New Union's presence in the northeast has virtually ceased to exist, and in its greatly diminished state, it is no longer as dominant a force as it once was. History Origins The New Union was a general term that gained popular usage by the surviving citizens of City 8 to refer to some groups of surviving Combine forces who lost contact with what remained of the UU Planetary Central Command during and after Operation Dethrone and maintained their own sectors of control without following further directives from the remaining Universal Union forces. Upon its official formation, the New Union was primarily made up of Combine Civil Authority units equipped with what supplies remained, as well as surviving members of the Civil Workers' Union and other loyalists. The New Union was initially disorganized and scattered over areas where the Universal Union had lost control and retreated or were defeated. Their access to many supplies and such of the past was now limited to whatever was left within the abandoned nexus buildings. Many of their machinery failed to operate and the few NOVA units remaining (with their skills in mechanics, electronics and nano technology) were of great importance in this time of great hardship for the surviving groups of CCA units. Delusion The loss of any contact UU Command during the aftermath of Dethrone was mitigated, at least for what was left of DOWNFALL partition, with CmD (08292)'s support. The CCA which formed The Cursory behind what the New Union is were never certain as to what happened to central command. As the weeks turned to months and months turned to years, this question began to fade as no word had been heard from the UU since Dethrone. 08292's theory behind the UU's apparent disappearance were unclear to most as he too remained hard to read, holding a very raw and aggressive form of old UU policy and command style within him. The motives of 08292 as far as his thoughts on the UU never came to light to the average New Union affiliate. The times were forcing change from old methods for the surviving CCA, and as such focus quickly shifted away from attempts to contact any higher authority and towards the formation of new NU zones of control, in an effort to re-establish order. Reorganization 08292 and his task force had been left behind in City 8 by retreating Overwatch Transhuman Arm forces during the major fighting triggered by Operation Dethrone and was ultimately left for dead. He managed to survive the fighting and following devastating barrage of bombing. As the situation degenerated across the planet in the aftermath of Dethrone, 08292 came to the conclusion that some surviving Universal Union forces were becoming defective and were not following proper protocols, or any protocols at all, so he began using his surviving loyal Internal Watch officers to draw stray Combine Civil Authority units to his cause. Nearby civilians had been talking about these actions, calling the rising force the "New Union". While 08292 did not ordinarily favor taking ideas from the civilian populace, the units themselves began referring to the rising force as the New Union, and eventually he came to accept it as the name of his forces. Slowly but surely growing in strength, the New Union's ultimate goals were to regain control of the Earth, reform the urban districts, and to regain contact with offworld Universal Union forces in an attempt to re-establish order. Under the command of 08292, the New Union resembled the pre-uprising Union in methods and practices, yet was made distinct over time with new, improved armor, altered tactics, and a somewhat higher level of tolerance of the activities of surviving rebels and citizens, provided they did not act against the NU. The New Union did not have many heavy ordnance assets, transports, or armor available to them initially, so they were sometimes forced to press surviving equipment from old Earth militaries back into active service. After a time, civilians were integrated into the New Union under the newly formed Union Civil Support program. After screening interviews performed by Internal Watch and extended probationary periods, these civilians were integrated into the New Union in various administrative and logistical positions. This added manpower helped the New Union reallocate some of its work load off of its units, allowing them to focus on other tasks. The HELIX Crisis Among the chaos that was already prevalent within the remaining Union forces, more units were sought out and added into CmD (08292)'s New Union. However, there was a great realization that began to become ever pressing within the newly-formed NU command hierarchy. Any and all HELIX units that were not confirmed KIA were declared missing in action for a completely unexplained reason. There was no evidence to where they could have gone, and many medical supplies were still left over in most of the remaining intact Combine Nexus' and outposts. This brought forth a sense of great confusion, as well as leading to the swift development of a new line of new medical officers which CmD had to train personally based off of what he knew as well as various remaining HELIX files and data. The only remaining unit that had any recollection or experience with medical training and medicinal application within the New Union was CmD(08292), having previously been a member of the Combine Civil Authority's HELIX division. These new Units were a literal remedial action taken by CmD to rectify the lack of medical training among his forces. These units were considered to be extremely vital to the NU and thus were a priority for defense. These units were organized into a new Division labelled VICE. The Schism Two years passed after the events of Dethrone. The fate of the rest of the Universal Union's forces on Earth was unclear, and the New Union had almost completely disregarded the old UU as their existence faded from the immediate concerns of struggling survivors. As the New Union continued to organize and consolidate, detachments of Universal Union forces began to emerge from the shadows, operating under mostly unknown directives. They began taking notice of the New Union operations, starting in City 8's stronghold, then emerging in other New Union controlled regions. Relatively quickly, skirmishes began breaking out at several locations. It is unclear who initiated the first hostilities, though rumors spread that 08292 himself fired some of the first shots upon encountering units who outright refused to obey his orders for reasons unknown. What was clear was that the remnants of the Universal Union did not seem unified at this point. Some were simply autonomous units malfunctioning in the aftermath of Dethrone, while others seemed like new types of units altogether. Fighting was mostly limited to smaller engagements at minor outposts, while larger engagements were extremely rare. It became clear that there were two sides that were fully opposed when 08292 began the Battle of City 44. While automated Overwatch forces held their own for some time, the New Union were able to drive them back and capture heavier weaponry. The last hostile holdouts were centered at key strategic points and defended by the new, unknown units. They seemed more tactically effective than the autonomous units, and were more durable than standard units of their class. New Union forces had a difficult time fighting these new units, but the order eventually came down to utilize some of the captured artillery pieces to quell all remaining resistance. Using these, the New Union won a crushing victory, but at the cost of destroying the more useful sections of the city, including a Nexus, a research facility, and a large material reclamation facility. 08292 declared City 44 a dead zone and ordered his attack force to pull out and redistribute throughout NU-controlled territory. Conflict 08292 began attempting to reach surviving units on the North American continent using long-range communication. As he did this, it became clear the New Union would likely wind up entangled in combat on a number of different fronts. Several outposts had been reporting entanglements with the new, hostile unit variants, while others clashed with small insurgent groups. As a result of this, 08292 shifted the New Union's directives from re-establishing Union control of Earth to quelling what he considered to be scattered insurrections. It was also at this point that he officially codified the New Union's stance towards remaining resistance members and other non-affiliated survivors; that they be left alone so long as they do not impede or attack the New Union in any way. With Cities 44, 17, and 18 all confirmed to be dead zones which were useless for his purposes for one reason or another, 08292 began drawing up plans to invade and capture City 45, a city he believed would serve as a better starting point for restoring worldwide control. The assault on City 45 initially went off with little incident, but eventually reports of UU forces in the area began to come in more and more frequently, indicating a probable massive counter-attack. In response, 08292 ordered all forces to pull out of City 45. Once everyone was clear, a Soviet-era nuclear device was detonated in the city. The blast, coupled with the reaction it caused in nearby dark energy reactors, effectively erased City 45 from existence, along with any UU forces within the blast radius. Following the aftermath of City 45. the New Union strike force returned to headquarters, and was then once again redistributed to various outposts. The commander reconvened his command council and initiated a number of new projects in an effort to set the New Union on equal footing with this new enemy. It was around this time that Shadow units in the region near what used to be City 17 first began following leads on an apparently surviving Lambda outpost known as "White Forest Base". 08292 had the Shadow team continue pursuing those leads, but shifted his focus to putting together an expeditionary force to deploy to North America in order to investigate the situation there. While this was in the works, reports came in of a massive UU force moving around as if they were searching for something, alarmingly close to City 11. This forced an immediate shift in New Union operations as a massive evacuation effort was initiated. New Union personnel and materiel was redistributed out to various outposts and controlled zones, while the North American expeditionary force was hastily put together and deployed . Within weeks, City 11 was left as abandoned and empty as the New Union had found it. For some time, the New Union was left unorganized and ineffective, but the command council later established a headquarters in an abandoned Union industrial zone in the Ural Mountains. Not long after, the location of the Lambda base at White Forest was pinpointed, and the Battle of White Forest occurred. The New Union rapidly swept aside all resistance they faced, and captured those who survived, leaving a garrison at the base. Expansion The North American expeditionary force had a difficult time upon initial arrival due to lack of any contact with central command and lack of functional communications networks on the continent. A chopper was also shot down over the ruins of City 33 by an unknown militant force. Eventually, communications were brought online. The North American NU command was made up of 00707 and ten Internal Watch units. Eventually, NU reinforcements moved into City 33 to rescue survivors from the crashed chopper. Not long later, New Union central command got into contact with the North American command and sent reinforcements and additional supplies. Work began on making City 33 into a continental headquarters. As the New Union expanded out from their new base, their forces began encountering more and more of the militant group known as the Coalition. In some cases, Union and Coalition teams were able to co-exist if not necessarily get along. However, in a few cases, there was a lot of tension between units and militants, with some of those tensions becoming shooting skirmishes. A regional conflict was on the horizon, with a Coalition base even being set up near an outpost 00707 was operating out of at the time. Both sides were poised to fight, but the leaders of both factions decided to meet each other first. Each arrived with a display of force, with the Coalition's leader flanked by guards which were former units, while 08292 arrived in an APC column, defended by both Internal Watch and elite Overwatch units. The Coalition leader entered an abandoned building with two of his guards, and 08292 followed with two Internal Watch units. The two were in there for some time, before eventually emerging. 08292 had managed to convince the Coalition's leader to join with the New Union, with the Coalition becoming Vanguard. The New Union had managed turned a potential war into a reinforcing of its North American presence due to an unusual measure of restraint and diplomacy on the part of 08292. With Vanguard being tasked to help with recon operations, the New Union continued to explore and expand into the North American continent. They pushed another outpost further west, near a small town of surviving civilians, with the objective of that outpost's units being to pursue a wanted fugitive. It was later decided that the New Union would establish a permanent presence there, but reinforcement and materials for fortification took some time to arrive as New Union command had prioritized a significant amount of personnel and materiel for the retaking of City 35. Concern began to arise about the proximity of the New Union base in the Ural Mountains to City 11, which had since been retaken by enemy forces. 08292 was initially very hesitant to consider relocating from or evacuating the facility, as it had production, detainment, communications, and logistics infrastructure vital to effective operation that was in relatively good condition. Most of the locations recaptured in other territories were in poor condition or in ruins, and repairs would take some time. However, further scans of an old Universal Union compound near the WES_3 outpost indicated it would address at least some of these issues if it was taken, and work by Grid teams within City 35 addressed others. Upon receiving this information, 08292 ordered a large increase in reclamation and salvaging activities in the Eurasian area. The plan was to take anything that might be useful to the New Union, and would be useful to the enemy were they to take possession of it, and either send it overseas or destroy it. He also assessed the transport capabilities, and determined that much of the large number of synth units the New Union had reclaimed in the Eurasian region would not be able to make the trip overseas in a timely manner. These units were massed for an attack on enemy positions within City 11. The New Union was moved in its entirety to North America. As this occurred, the strike on a compound near the North American WES_3 outpost was launched, and was ultimately successful. The Second Schism As the New Union grew into the closest thing to a world power that there was in the aftermath of the Combine occupation, cracks began to appear in its framework. At lower levels, cultural clashes between Arch-class units and former Union loyalists on one hand and Proto-class units and some Vanguard personnel on the other. At the highest levels, disagreements emerged between 08292 and his DvLs ranging from such issues as where the headquarters should be positioned, what research and development projects should be prioritized, and how best to deal with certain anti-New Union elements. Any of the Internal Watch that stayed true to CmD in spite of everything kept things in line. There were a handful of Internal Watch however that were undetected but highly skeptical of things. The disposition of the Internal Watch ultimately leaned towards CmD, and this was heavily related to their discretion towards 00707's reform towards their way of work. Finally, an incident occurred which set off all the building tensions at once. Rose Darion, following a violent outburst that nearly killed several of the people she had once saved, had been placed in a medical facility in City 33's Section D. There, she was to be studied and monitored. After a period of time, she simply got up and left, absent the knowledge of any medical personnel until she had already left. She then quickly made her way to the Valkyr center to re-equip herself, though what purpose she had for doing so was unclear. When she attempted to leave, she was engaged by several Storm units. After dispatching them, she faced the Commander himself in single combat, which later descended into a pursuit through the city. She was ultimately held on the ground at gunpoint by 08292. However, the unit that was moving in to apprehend Darion, for unknown reasons, turned her weapon on 08292. Enraged, he shot the unit in short order. Taking fire into his legs from behind, he fell and Darion escaped, as did the VT unit who fired on 08292. After some time in stasis, recovering from injuries and strain caused by his use of a prototype suit of combat armor, 08292 met with his DvLs in what was to be a standard command meeting. However, the meeting was quickly derailed by the matter of the Darion incident. 08292 explained himself, but the DvLs did not find his reasoning acceptable in light of the severity of what he did. Frustrated that this was all the DvLs seemed to want to discuss, regardless of whatever else might be going on, he abruptly ended the meeting. Eventually, the unit who aided in Darion's escape was captured and executed by 37383 after a brief interrogation. 37383 made a point of advising those who were close to the unit against attempts at retribution for what had been done, largely due to the risk that such actions could escalate into a fracturing of the New Union. He then left, returning to his primary duty at WES_HQ as head of the New Union Western Command, and was unable to directly view how accurate his prediction was. Eventually, Darion was captured, but it simply did not matter. Rumors had been circulated amongst the general populace of what had happened. Dissent against the Commander began to spread. The DvLs began planning an exit strategy. After some time, they confronted the Commander in his office. While he initially presumed they had an urgent matter that could not wait for the next command meeting, it quickly became clear to him why they were there. They demanded he issue a public apology for what was, in their view, an unjustified attack on an individual they claimed had become a heroic figure. In addition, they demanded he relinquish at least some significant portion of his authority. To 08292, they had already made a choice to fracture the New Union, and he would not humor them by making it official. To the DvLs, 08292 was a tyrannical lunatic who was no longer able to be in charge of the New Union. It was clear to 08292 that no matter what answer he gave, the division that had formed would never go away, so he simply told the DvLs to do what they were going to do. They did, leaving his office. 00707 issued an announcement denouncing 08292 and most of his actions. Transports and trains were activated, and units and civilians alike were loaded on. 08292 issued orders to attempt to secure vehicles and materiel, but many in City 33 had defected, and this effort was only partially successful. An attempt was made to break into a research facility critical to some of 08292's pet projects, but after a tense standoff between heavily armed loyalists and sporadically armed defectors, the defectors ultimately backed down. Fistfights, stunstick battles, and the like broke out in several places, but no fatalities were recorded. When the dust settled, and the defectors had fled, only 40% of the UCM, UCS, Vanguard, and civilians of City 33 remained. It later became clear to 08292 that all aspects of the Valkyr program had escaped with the defectors. Similar numbers left the New Union throughout much of the Northeastern Command. In New Union Southern Command, however, the losses were less severe. Only about 20% of the civilian populace and 10% of the Vanguard populace defected from City 35, while very few defected from the outlying outposts in the region. New Union Western Command went dark altogether following the conclusion of 00707's broadcast. The New Union was now fractured. A significant portion had broken off and formed what would come to be called the Terra Concord. Many of the loyalists who remained with the New Union were demoralized by what had happened, but did what they could to keep what was left of the New Union running in some semblance of normalcy. Some of the New Union Logistics personnel had remained loyal, particularly those who ran convoys, but the vast majority left with Terra Concord. The remaining New Union found itself with a loss of a large amount of personnel, sabotaged communications systems making reaching out to Southern Command difficult, loss of a significant amount of weapons and ammunition, and the loss of almost all of City 33's Overwatch garrison, with the exception of the 250 Storm units in the city. Also, while the withdrawal occurred without fatalities, there were a several individuals at various echelons on both sides who sought conflict with the other side for various reasons. 08292 was initially left uncertain how to proceed. He eventually reached out to the Vanguard commander, as well as the highest ranking units of the four divisions and the highest ranking UCS personnel who had remained. By the time statistics were ran, it was registered that 70% of personnel had fractured and become members of the Terra Concord. In the Northeast, the New Union as a presence practically ceased to exist overnight, at least outside of City 33 and its immediate vicinity. After several weeks, 08292 boarded a helicopter bound for City 35 to discuss further plans for the region with the southern region's command council. However, about 30 miles out from City 33, the aircraft is shot down. The Commander is presumed dead on impact. Word spreads quickly, and before anyone can be sent to verify the Commander's fate, most of City 33's Vanguard turn on the remaining New Union forces, plunging the city into brutal violence. Receiving word of the situation, the Southern Command sends an Airwatch helicopter to the Western Command region in an attempt to acquire reinforcement and additional resources to maintain order, as word of the fate of the Commander's aircraft incites unrest among the civilian populace and UCM alike. Decline New Union forces began to gradually lose control of City 33, attempting to fight both the Vanguard and many of the previously rioting citizens, who had since begun to hastily form new resistance groups. Many groups loyal to the New Union were pushed out of the city altogether, while a few held their ground near the main central command center, with others holding Section D. However, these holdouts kept gradually losing ground day by day. Some of the civilians caught in the crossfire tried to take shelter with the New Union forces, while others took shelter behind Vanguard lines. The majority of civilian refugees ended up trying to flee the city altogether, with many disbursing back to the wasteland. Members of UCS, Logistics, and Vanguard who remained loyal often worked to help the refugees escape the fighting in the city. These efforts were sometimes aided by loyal UCM units. A large convoy of APCs and other vehicles were spotted from time to time traveling to various locations around City 33. Units were spotted loading stasis pods, equipment crates, and various devices into their vehicles. Several attempts were made by the anti-New Union forces to get a closer look at what was being loaded, as well as to stop the activity, but those who tried were quickly chased off or killed by Storm units, often aided by several UCM units. Eventually, the convoy seemed to finish whatever its mission was, and it forced its way out of the city, with the APCs and other armored vehicles in the convoy laying down heavy fire on anyone who fired on them. The convoy's destination was unknown to both the anti-New Union forces and the New Union remnant. As the situation in City 33 degenerated, more and more New Union personnel broke ranks and fled, with most of them fleeing to the west. While some elements of the Judge Division believed those who fled should be punished for their retreat, 37383 and others kept them in line. There was initially some friction about this, but as reports came in from those who fled, the picture they painted made it clear that public opinion, at least in that region, made it borderline impossible for any attempt to hold the city to be successful after the Second Schism. By early January of 2023, it was clear from the reports of the last refugees that the city was lost. What was left of the New Union was now mostly consolidated around the biggest western outposts and City 35 in the south. The supply situation remained difficult. The New Union remained fairly well stocked in weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and the like, but such things are not edible. Another New Union command council was also needed, given the dissolution of the first and the demise of the second. It was also clear that public opinion among many of the surviving settlements would have likely shifted against the New Union, if they were anything like those that had lived and worked side by side with NU personnel in City 33. To make matters worse, in the backdrop of all this, the varying unknown signals being received from the west were only increasing in frequency and intensity. It quickly became clear to those remaining in powerful positions in the New Union that action would need to be taken on all fronts, and quickly. Organization and Governance Command and Control As the New Union has expanded from its origin point, its leadership structure has been shifted and altered to match the changing needs of the organization. Initially, just after Dethrone, its only leadership was the Commander and his Internal Watch guards in a small outpost in City 8. As time went on, and other surviving units were contacted, the leadership structure began to grow.The New Union's first full command council consisted of the Commander and five DvLs, one each for the Sword Division, Grid Division, Vice Division, Shadow Division, and later one for the newly formed Judge Division. Comms officers of the UCS occasionally act as intermediaries between the command council and the various New Union outposts. These outposts are generally commanded by an EpU-ranked unit, though in rare cases an Internal Watch unit will act as an outpost commander. Overwatch of the New Union are controlled by whoever they are tasked to, unless they are deployed autonomously, in which case they will follow the directives of their designated squad leader. With the New Union's continued growth leading it to having a significant presence in North America, their command structure has once again been altered. Judge DvL 00707 and a group of ten Judge units were deployed to act as the North American force's command council, with various smaller outposts being under the command of 01 or EpU-ranked units as normal. The North American command reports to the New Union's overall command council via 00707, the only unit that is a member of both command councils. The addition of the Vanguard force added the former Coalition's command structure to the North American command. This was addressed by the creation of a new Union Civil Support group that was briefly referred to as Militia Officers. They are generally given oversight and/or command roles over various Vanguard teams, as well as helping to organize civilian militias in New Union-aligned settlements in order to help bolster their defense. These officers were later folded into the Vanguard command structure in order to simplify things. The New Union's high command had begun taking direct input from various outpost commanders in an effort to better address the varying situations occurring throughout New Union controlled zones. On occasion, they also accepted direct reports from high-ranking Union Civil Support personnel. Faction Philosophies The New Union is, as a whole, centered around principles of order and stability. The Commander spearheaded these principles, focusing the New Union on restoring order, stability, and peace to the world in the chaotic aftermath of Dethrone. In the earlier days of the New Union, he broadcasted several speeches and held several rallies in which he spoke against both the governments of pre-war Earth, as well as the Universal Union for what he perceived to be their failure to create stable and peaceful societies. He castigated old Earth governments primarily for being too permissive and allowing for too much chaos, and spoke against the Universal Union and their blatant lies about their presence somehow helping humanity advance, when in truth their occupation was progressing humanity to extinction. The precise vision the Commander had for how the New Union would be better than those that preceded it was never completely presented, and as the New Union grew and its command council whittled away at the Commander's unilateral authority, that remained the case. When the New Union endured the Second Schism, it was left leaderless and directionless, leaving a need for someone to fill the role and determine the new course of what remained. While some of the Commander's rhetoric and many of the New Union's propaganda posters indicated that in principle the faction was highly totalitarian, in practice it was initially fairly permissive, at least relative to its direct predecessor. Many actions that in the past would have been viewed as level 1, 2, or even 3 offenses were frequently ignored by many New Union personnel. Even Judge units overlooked most of these relatively minor offenses, though they would sometimes issue verbal warnings depending on the offense. They tended to be stricter in the cities they controlled, particularly around command sections. See also *08292 *Internal Watch *New Union Armor Variants *New Union Hierarchy and Structure *New Union Unit Variants *Union Civil Support Category:Factions Category:New Union